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The latest pieces from MENASource:


MENASource

Sep 23, 2025

A geography of protest: Inside the rise of Iran’s minority factor

By
Mohammed A. Salih

From the death of Mahsa Jina Amini to the Twelve Day War, the ethnic question has emerged as a significant dimension of Iran’s politics.

Civil Society
Iran


MENASource

Sep 23, 2025

Iran’s minorities and policy complexity: A look at two communities

By
David Sklar

Iran plays a significant role in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Policymakers should develop a sober, accurate mapping of its population.

Civil Society
Iran


MENASource

Sep 19, 2025

How Israel’s strike on Doha is forcing a Gulf security reckoning

By
Giorgio Cafiero

The Gulf monarchies have displayed strong unity at a time when rethinking twenty-first-century Gulf security is no longer optional.

Israel
Middle East

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Through our Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, the Atlantic Council works with allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

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Content

IranSource

Oct 1, 2018

Iran-Israel Animus Exacerbates the US-Iran Divide

By Barbara Slavin

NEW YORK — Iran’s mellifluous foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was in characteristic form Saturday afternoon as he sparred with a small group of journalists and US-Iran hands and fulminated against the policies of the Trump administration. Iran would survive the latest barrage of US sanctions, Zarif insisted, noting President Donald Trump’s relative isolation at […]

International Organizations Iran

In the News

Sep 30, 2018

Itani Quoted in Washington Post on Syria and Iran

By Faysal Itani

Read the full article here.

Iran Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 28, 2018

Lessons learned? Canada’s problematic Syrian resettlement process

By Gareth Chantler

In late 2015, Canada’s Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau was elected, in part on a promise to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees. The Liberal Party leveraged the ‘success’ into branding opportunities—championing ‘the Canadian model’ at home and abroad. They delivered, but, in their haste, the limitations of Canada’s foreign missions were exposed as problematic with inefficient policies and practices. Without political pressure to learn from these mistakes, it is unclear if Canada’s policies for processing large numbers of refugees will improve.

Syria

IranSource

Sep 28, 2018

Europe Unlikely to Avoid Trump’s Iran Sanctions

By SAMANTHA SULTOON

Prompted by the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA), the remaining signatories are urgently seeking ways to maintain the agreement—both for strategic reasons and to preserve its trade benefits. A British, French, and German proposal to launch an independent channel for maintaining trade […]

Iran
The 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade during a drill held in the Golan Heights in northern Israel. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Issue Brief

Sep 27, 2018

The evolving Iranian strategy in Syria: A looming conflict with Israel

By Nader Uskowi

Iran began its military involvement in Syria in 2011, at the outbreak of the civil war. Tehran’s immediate objective was to defeat the Syrian opposition militarily to save Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The maintenance of the Shia-Alawi-dominated regime in Damascus was key to the Islamic Republic’s long-term regional strategy, the creation of a contiguous Shia […]

Iran Security & Defense

In the News

Sep 27, 2018

Ellinas Quoted in Financial Times on Israeli Gas Exports to Egypt

By Charles Ellinas

Read the full article here.

North Africa

In the News

Sep 27, 2018

Dagres Quoted in the Guardian on Netanyahu Speech

By Holly Dagres

Read the full article here.

Iran

SyriaSource

Sep 27, 2018

Three years later: the evolution of Russia’s military intervention in Syria

By Joseph Daher

Syria was the first time that Moscow had launched a major military operation outside its borders since the end of the Cold War. Backed by Russian air power and Iranian militias on the ground, the Syrian regime has been able to topple armed opposition strongholds and assert control over all of the country’s major cities. While initially supporting its Syrian ally politically through the UN Security Council and economically through at-cost weapons deals, by adding its military support Russia dramatically turned the tide in favor of the Assad regime and changed the trajectory of the conflict.

Russia Syria

IranSource

Sep 27, 2018

Beware of Following Another Chalabi Figure Into an Iranian Quagmire

By Borzou Daragahi

A tale from more than a decade ago serves as a warning for both the US and Iran in the wake of the devastating September 22 terror attack on a military parade that killed at least twenty-five people in the provincial capital of Ahvaz. It was around 2006 when reports started emerging of a man […]

Iran

SyriaSource

Sep 26, 2018

How the Kurds navigate fluid and convenient allies: the Syrian regime and the US

By Sam Fouad

With reports that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC)—the political wing of the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—is meeting with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad for diplomatic talks, the possibility of greater Kurdish representation, or even autonomy, in Syria has found an unlikely boost.

Syria
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Director, N7 Research Institute

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Conflict

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Aina Monfort

COO, Airbus Helicopters Spain

Millennium Leadership Program

Indo-Pacific North Africa

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Paul Klimos

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Freedom and Prosperity Center

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Elizabeth Shortino

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoEconomics Center

Economy & Business Inclusive Growth

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Christopher Aw

Nonresident Senior Fellow, N7 Initiative

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

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